The Curse of Undeath

Celestia waits impatiently as the chariot rolls to a stop by Twilights library, wasting no time opening the chariot door and exiting swiftly. Making a bee-line for the door, quickly opens it with her magic and closes it behind her, and then asks worriedly, "What has happened to my precious student?"

Everyone turns around swiftly and bows to the Princess except for Twilight as she continues to freak out when Matthias looks at Celestia and sighs saying, "All I have done is just shown her a single thing that happened in the past when some people did not listen to the advice given to them, she was in no actual danger from it. I have no idea why she is behaving like this though, perhaps you would like to see what I have shown her so you might have a better understanding being her mentor."

She nods her head saying, "I would like to see what caused her to behave this erratically, show me what she saw."

Matthias extends his hand forward and then says, "Take my hand and you shall see what she saw. Keep in mind that this is after he cast away his heart."

Celestia reaches forth and grabs his hand, feeling his spell start to take effect when she feels other hands land on top of hers. Making her look to the others and ask, "What are you young ponies doing? You should not see such things like this when it comes to my and Luna's father!"

Applejack looks up at Princess Celestia with a sheepish look on her face as she says, "Ah'm sorry princess, but we are all worried about Twilight and we would like to know what exactly is going on between you all and Arthas."

She sighs reluctantly and says, "Very well, all of you. Be prepared for what you are about to see, if Arthas is involved with this...then it can not be good."

They all go silent and watch the event play through as Rarity is the first to react from seeing it saying, "Oh how horrifyingly barbaric and cruel the Lich King is!"

Fluttershy looks away and says, "It is tragic how one being must take the Lich King's place if he dies... I don't think I could have the heart to say goodbye to my friends and rule over such wicked and unnatural beings."

Celestia gasps after a few moments of silence as she figures out why Twilight is reacting this way and sighs happily saying, "Oh Twilight..." then looks to Matthias and asks, "Do you know where Twilight hid it?"

He then looks at her and chuckles, then points to her bed while remaining silent. He watches as she makes her way there to get the heart and says, "Remember what you heard from Twilight earlier about the heart. Also, don't use your magic to grab and hold it."

She silently nods her head and looks around her bed for the heart, finding it hidden underneath her pillow still in the frostweave cloth and carefully grabs it. Holding it in her hand gingerly, she makes her way down to Twilight and holds the heart out towards Twilight in both palms saying, "Twilight, you silly filly...you forgot about something. Snap out of it and keep it close to you."

Twilight stops in mid-turn as her eyes fall upon the wrapped heart belonging to Arthas and races towards it, then snatches it from Celestia's hands and clutches it tightly while bringing it to her chest saying, "How could this have happened to me..." Her legs give out from under her as she then brings her knees up towards her while curling her tail around herself on the floor as an embarrassed blush crosses her face.

Celestia walks towards her with a smile saying, "Welcome back to reality my dear student. We cannot always control who we fall in love with in our lives, but even if it is destined to fail, it is good that you had loved them at all. The worst thing anypony could do to another is abandon them or give up and stop trying to help them."

She then holds Arthas's heart in front of her and sighs as she still has feelings for him though she has seen some of what he has done and says, "Y-You're right, Princess Celestia. No matter what happens, I will never stop trying to save Arthas. There must be a way to do something about his heart, could I get permission to check through the private section of the Canterlot Library?"

The princess nods her head saying, "I don't see any reason I shouldn't let you, so I grant you permission to look through it to your heart's content." She then thinks back to what Jaina said in the vision and turns to Matthias asking, "Jaina said others were fighting inside Icecrown Citadel, what happened after what we saw?"

Matthias looks at her and sighs saying, "Brave champions of Azeroth faced the Lich King's strongest warriors in his citadel about three years ago, and defeated him...then some grand spell sent him here unknowingly. Would you wish to see that as well?"

Twilight looks at him and nervously nods her head saying, "I know I must see it, perhaps there will be clues as to how to bring him back to reality."

Celestia looks around at the others, seeing them nod their heads as well and turns her gaze to Matthias then nods her head saying, "It would benefit us all to have further knowledge of how he was defeated the first time, please show us."

He looks at them all briefly and nods his head saying, "Very well then, take my hand one last time and you shall see how strong the Lich King was then compared to the Champions."

They all place their hands on his as he starts to show them the final battle against the Lich King, starting just outside of the gates through the eyes of the same adventurer as they watch and listen to Jaina quietly speaking to the leader of the forces gathered before the gates as he commands them all to rise up because the time for justice has come for the Lich King. With a gesture from his arm, he orders a large battering ram to move forward. Pushed along by a group of knights in full plate armor, they reach the towering gates to Icecrown Citadel and stop. They then hold it there as others start to pull back the ram and release it repeatedly, with the sound echoing out across the large force.

After several minutes of bashing the front gate, a loud echoing crack sounds from behind the door as the ram strikes the door one final time. Sending the door swinging back slowly as it signals they have finally succeeded in breaching the front gate as they begin to pull the large ram away from the door as the forces charge forward into the cold, dark citadel.

Fighting their way through a large group in the first room, they press forward to establish a base so that they can resupply for the battles up ahead of them.

Celestia watches as the adventurer fights alongside the others against horrific monsters many times bigger than they are, having strength that is much greater than her own.

As the adventurer continues on through the fight, losing many allies as a single soldier walks out of a pair of doors as a few orcs charge forth ahead of the others as one of them tells them to continue forward and leave dealing with this foe to them as the enemy is his son. The adventurer watches as the orcs start fighting the foe and runs around them all then proceeds into the halls, eager to put an end to the Lich King.

For those that may be confused, this is what is going on at the moment. The character and video are not mine.

They all watch the long and grueling battle against the might of the Lich King's forces, costing the lives of many soldiers and adventurers as they finally find themselves at the very top of Icecrown Citadel when the leader strides forth to the center of the platform.

Celestia watches closely as the Lich King speaks to the leader saying, "So the Light's justice has finally come for me. Shall I lay down Frostmourne and throw myself at your feet and beg for mercy, Fordring?"

The adventurer shifts its gaze to the leader in the center as he says that they will grant him a swift death, more than what he deserves for the thousands that he has tortured and slain.

The gaze shifts back to the Lich King as he says, "You shall learn of that firsthand, Fordring. When my work is done, you will be the one begging for mercy...only to be denied. Your agonized cries of anguish shall be the ultimate testament to my unbridled power.

They watch through the eyes of the adventurer as Fordring gives them all the order to attack, charging in with their blade drawn against the Lich King as he freezes their leader inside of a large block of ice saying, "I shall keep you alive so you can witness the end, Fordring. I do not want the Light's greatest champion to miss seeing this wretched world being remade in my image.

As the fight continues, they watch as the Lich King uses a blast of wind, snow, and ice to push them all away. Their gaze is pulled to the sides of the platform as several soldiers are forced off to fall to their death, drawn back to the Lich King after seeing that they too are heading for the edge. Using the blade in their hand, the adventurer slips off the platform and quickly drives the sword into the ice and halting their fall. With their strength, they pull themselves back up onto the platform and retrieve their sword.

Returning their focus to the Lich King, the adventurer charges forth once more as monsters are summoned to fight them. Leaving them to the others, they return to attacking the Lich King.

The vision switches to The Lich King as he then chuckles with glee saying, "I shall freeze you all from within until you are but lifeless husks!" and creates a large freezing area as a blizzard starts to rage around him, catching many heroes inside of it. He then begins to kill them off before the blizzard fades away and drives his sword into the ground, channeling his magic into it to shatter the ice that is built up around the platform's actual edge. He watches as the ice starts to fall from the edge as the remaining soldiers are forced away from the edge, pulling his sword from the ground as he goes back to attacking the survivors.

The vision returns to the adventurer, with the fight raging on as he summons winged humanoid creatures he calls Val'kyr, then sends them towards the survivors. Eager to bring the fight to an end, the adventurer looks back to the Lich King and continues to attack him with everything they have left.

The vision switches to the Lich King once again as he uses a spell to freeze the soldiers to their core saying, "Succumb to the ice cold snows of Icecrown!" summoning a few raging spirits to attack those that still live, ordering them to sacrifice themselves as they are defeated and take as many of the soldiers with them they can. He cackles with glee at the damage they are dealing to his foes and begins to draw souls into his sword one by one as he chases after those that are distracted with the spirits.

After landing numerous blows to the Lich King, the adventurer watches as he starts casting a spell. They then look to the others and see a large black spiral of swirling shadows appears on the ground, causing massive damage to those caught within it as it steadily grows larger with each passing second.

Their vision switches to the Lich King as he heads for the heroes trapped within his spell and kills them all off by driving Frostmourne into the ground, channeling its rage towards the remaining soldiers, shattering the ice in the process. As lightning strikes all around him, he waits a few seconds before pulling Frostmourne from the ground and looking around at the corpses of the soldiers that faced him and says, "There are no questions remaining unanswered, no doubts yet linger... You ARE Azeroth's greatest champions to have ever faced me. You have managed to overcome every challenge I put before you. My greatest servants have all fallen to your relentless assault and your unbridled rage." He remains silent for a moment before continuing, "I wonder... Is it really righteousness that drives you so far?"

Watching as he then faces the leader and says, "You have trained them very well, Tirion. You have brought the greatest fighting force Azeroth has ever had to my doorstep...then delivered them into my hands. I could not have planned it any better than this! I shall now reward you for your unwitting sacrifice..." and races to the center of the platform, then thrusts Frostmourne into the air saying, "Now, you shall watch as I raise them all from the dead to become masters of the Scourge! They shall shrowd this world in chaos and destruction until only death remains." He then begins to cast his spell to raise the corpses and continues, "Azeroth's fall shall come from their hands...and you shall be the very first one to die." He cackles with glee and then finishes, "Oh how I delight in such irony."

He focuses on casting his spell as he hears the ice shatter, followed by a few footsteps before watching a sword strike Frostmourne...and shatter it. Looking on in shock at his shattered sword, softly saying, "Impossible...no weapon can shatter Frostmourne." He then drops the hilt and looks up at Tirion as the numerous souls within the blade escape and raise him into the air. He swats at the souls surrounding him and keeping him suspended, only to find himself unable to break free from their hold on him.

They watch as his gaze turns to Tirion Fordring as he charges forth and leaps at him with his blade drawn back, then watches as the blade is driven through his chest. Grunting in pain as the spirits drop him to the ground, he looks up from the hilt into the hate-filled eyes of Tirion and chuckles saying, "At last you manage to run me through, old friend."

They look through The Lich King's eyes at Tirion as he scowls while narrowing his eyes saying, "Indeed I have, it feels good to finally be rid of the monster that has betrayed so many friends and allies for his own gain. I haven't killed you yet, regardless of how much I hate you and want to give you the punishment you deserve, justice yet needs to be dealt. One of the mages found a tome a couple months ago with a banishing spell in it. It took some time to convince them, but we are going to use that spell to banish you from this world." He then raises his boot and roughly kicks him off of his sword.

Twilight watches on in curiosity as he lands a few feet away, filling the air with the sound of metal scraping against stone as he looks at the shattered hilt of Frostmourne lying on the floor a few feet away. His gaze then shifts towards the rune teleporter to watch his friend head for the door as a ghostly apparition appears in the corner of his vision, catching his attention, and recognizes it as his father.

Watching as the apparition walks over and kneels down beside him, a gauntleted hand reaches up for their shoulder as a tear falls from their eye. With a cough, he looks into their eyes and asks, "Father, is it over?"

They look through his eyes as he looks at his father while he places a hand over his softly saying, "At long last, my son. No king rules forever." He watches as his father then turns his gaze to Tirion and says, "Without the Lich King keeping them under control, the restless scourge will greatly endanger the world of the living. There always needs to be a Lich King."

The gaze remains on his father as he speaks with Tirion, speaking about how they won't have to worry about the Lich King anymore due to a spell being found by Brann Bronzebeard in Ulduar.

Twilight listens intently to what the two say to each other, making her curious as to how she could locate and study this spell. She listens to the conversation between Arthas and his father as he asks if he will die there when his father says he does not know but hopes that he finds love one day if he survives. He then bids farewell to his son, calling him the crown prince of Lordaeron before correcting himself and saying that he is the king now due to being dead, then joins the other spirits as they head to the beyond.

Celestia watches with great curiosity as the vision continues, with his gaze turning up towards the sky as several multicolored ribbons of light appear above him and force him to shield his eyes from the brightness. When the brightness fades, he looks around to see that nothing has changed.

As the vision plays out to the end, they return to their bodies as Rainbow is the first one to speak saying excitedly, "Okay, that fight was totally EPIC!" She then quickly looks at the others and continues, "I can't believe that he got to meet and actually speak to the Commander Hurricane!"

Applejack sighs and says, "It is hard to believe that with so many fighting against him, he still was strong enough to end their lives so quickly and ruthlessly."

Fluttershy then somberly says, "They were saved though, after the sword was broken and those souls trapped within it lifted the Lich King into the air. They were brought back somehow after that by Arthas's father just before Tirion took the opportunity to deal the final blow even though he managed to survive."

The princess then sighs and says "It is surprising to me that they used a spell that seemed to have a connection to Equis, this requires further investigation into the matter, though I will not send you there unprepared. You all are to remain in Ponyville and perform your normal duties until I send a letter to Twilight and let you know what needs to be done."

They all nod their heads and bow to Princess Celestia as Twilight wonders what could possibly be done to save Arthas. She watches Princess Celestia exit her home followed by the others after saying their goodbyes to her as Rarity stays behind.

Rarity looks at her, seeing her deep in thought and smiles asking, "Twilight, darling, whatever has you in such deep thought? It is not good for your appearance to scrunch up your beautiful face like that for too long, that is how you get wrinkles you know?"

Twilight is pulled from her thoughts at what Rarity said, causing her to giggle saying, "Sorry Rarity, I...I was just thinking that there must be some way to save Arthas from the Lich King's grasp."

She then looks at Twilight and says, "How about we pay a visit to the spa, it will be my treat? Perhaps after relaxing for a bit while getting pampered will provide you with an idea."

The bookish pony smiles and considers it for a moment saying, "You know Rarity, that just might help. Okay, let's go."

A month later, late in the evening in Canterlot Castle

Luna wakes from her short three-hour nap, then looks at the clock to see it is already close to the time for raising the moon and setting the sun. With a sigh, she rises from her bed and heads to her closet to make herself presentable for her nightly duties.

Celestia watches as her sister walks towards her in a black silk dress with sheer fabric laying on the short skirt coming to just above her knees, and ending around the middle of her calves. She smiles and says, "That is a very pretty dress sister, did you get that in Darnassus?"

The still-tired princess shakes her head and yawns while approaching her sister on the balcony saying, "Unfortunately not, sister. The fashion in Azeroth is sorely lacking and places value of magical enchantments over appearance, I fear for Rarity's sanity if she saw some of the clothing that is over there."

She stands there on the balcony in her golden yellow sun dress hanging to her knees as she frowns at seeing the bags under her sister's eyes and says, "I wish you would stay home more so you can recover from your lack of sleep, it has been several weeks and those two keep telling us that his forces have not left the Frozen North yet though he is clearly preparing something as he has begun building siege engines of various types."

Luna blinks her eyes a couple of times before taking a deep breath then yawns once more looking at her sister and saying, "I would if I didn't feel that it was so important to the survival of Equestria, should father make his move and wage war against all of Equis starting with Equestria. It took me two whole weeks to learn and adapt her method to be able to cast Moonfire for the first time, which was extremely weak at the time and only managed to singe a few strands of straw on a target dummy. I must keep trying to learn all she can teach me so I can become stronger to keep our ponies safe from the Lich King's armies."

Celestia sighs and says, "If you are set on becoming stronger to protect our world and all its subjects sister, then I will not stop you. In fact, I shall join you in training and visit Darnassus during the day, three days a week and use Tuesdays and Thursdays to hold court."

She smiles tiredly at her sister and says, "Very well sister, though I doubt that you will be able to learn from Priestess Tyrande since you lack a connection to our moon. Perhaps if your connection to the sun might allow you to channel something similar to the Holy Light, you might be able to be trained as a paladin. I can ask Tyrande if she could recommend someone to train you in their ways."

With a smile and a nod, she asks, "I would be very grateful if you did that for me, shall we begin our duty and change places dear sister?"

Luna nods her head as she and Celestia begin using their magic to change the day into night, ending her sister's watch as hers begins and says, "Have pleasant dreams tonight Cece, I shall watch over our precious subjects as they slumber." and then heads to the throne to begin her shift.

Hours pass as she patrols the dream realm, sensing another pony being troubled by a nightmare, then enters the dream to see Scootaloo trembling in fear as the body of a headless pony prepares to chase after her and blasts it with her magic. It vanishes and leaves behind two marks where it was rearing on its hind legs.

Scootaloo continues trembling for a moment before stopping when she recognizes Luna standing before her and says, "Princess Luna, it's you! I thought that you were the headless horse that was chasing me."

She smiles affectionately at the troubled pony and says, "You were only mistaken, but not disappointed I hope?"

The young pegasi beams a smile and takes a couple steps forward saying, "Oh of course not, you are so much better than the Headless Horse. What are you doing here though, shouldn't you be in Canterlot?"

Luna stands up tall and says, "I am princess of the night, so thus is my duty to enter your dreams."

Scootaloo then blinks for a moment saying, "Oh, yeah...I forgot, how silly of me. Wait...this is just a dream, seriously? It feels way too real."

The princess nods her head saying, "I promise you that you are still dreaming, however, when you wake up, what frightens you most shall still exist."

She cocks her head in fake confusion and says, "Uh...do you mean the Headless Horse?"

Luna sees through the act and pretends to think for a moment asking, "Hmm...is the Headless Horse really what you are most frightened of?"

Scootaloo thinks for a moment and sits down saying, "Mmm...I'm just scared that Rainbow Dash will find out I'm not as tough as I say I am."

The princess lays a hand on her chin gently and smiles saying, "Everypony has something they fear Scootaloo, even me. There is a time that they must face them in their own way. If they are not faced, the nightmares will continue to trouble them." She senses that she is waking up and starts to retreat from the dream saying, "Find the courage and face your fears!"

A couple of hours ago, just outside a cave in the Whitetail Woods

Rarity sits down beside the campfire as Scootaloo returns from gathering wood for the fire tonight as she claims to not being able to find any more. Unsure whether it is true or not, she remains silent as Applejack tells her it's okay and to go sit with Rainbow as she gets the fire started.

Matthias appears just behind a couple bushes and watches curiously as they begin to tell stories, waiting for the right moment when he hears Applejack telling one next. As she nears the end of the story, he sees their eyes are focused on her as a pegasus with a hot pink mane tries to control her trembling and moves between the two bushes in front of him then shouts, "BOO!" from between them.

Applejack briefly screams in fright and falls backwards off the log, then looks around for who said that as the others giggle and laugh at her after calming down. She sees Matthias standing between two bushes and scowls at him saying, "Well, ya definitely caught me off-guard with that Matthias. Twilight's not with us, so why're ya here?"

He approaches the fire and sits down on a rock saying, "I am free to wander as I wish, so I decided to see what camping is like."

Rainbow then smiles and says, "Pretty cool isn't it? Say, would you happen to have any campfire stories to tell?"

Matthias then thinks for a moment and says, "A campfire story needs to be a legend and scary yes?"

Rarity then nods her head and says, "That is correct darling, let me introduce you the young fillies here." She then looks to them and says, "Girls, this is Matthias Lehner. He is ehh...a friend of ours that we met on our travels." She then looks to Matthias and gestures to each of the girls as she says, "Matthias, these are the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their names are Applebloom, who is Applejack's younger sister, Scootaloo, who is a big fan of Rainbow Dash, and then there is Sweetie Belle, who is my younger sister."

Applebloom then blinks a few times and looks at the strange being then asks, "Hi, what are you and where did you all meet?"

He looks at her and smiles, then answers her saying, "Hi, I am a human from another world, though I shall not tell you which. We all met at the platform just outside the Crystal Empire, however, I won't share the story with you. That will have to come from one of those that were there, only if they think you are ready for it. As for the scary stories, I do have a lot. Unfortunately, I can't tell any of them because you would never sleep again."

Rainbow gulps nervously and then says, "Alright then...now where was I..." and starts to return to the story she was telling earlier.

A few minutes pass by as they finish singing a song after Rainbow's scary story about the Headless Horse, Applejack notices a sly smirk on Matthias's face and waits for the others to go to bed and walks up to him then asks, "What was that smirk for about Rainbow's story?"

Matthias sees Scootaloo outside the cave and leans in close to Applejack's ear and softly whispers, "The Headless Horseman actually exists in Azeroth, he shows up at night every Hallow's End which is similar to your Nightmare Night."

Applejack's knees tremble at hearing that and looks at his face, seeing no hint of a lie and gulps nervously before looking to Scootaloo saying, "It's time fer us all to git some sleep, c'mon Scootaloo." then hurries along inside the cave.

He watches over them for a few hours and sees Scootaloo race out of the cave first, wondering where she is going when he sees Rainbow head out of the cave and says, "If your looking for the young pegasus, she grabbed her board thing and took off that way down the trail. She is way too fast for me, but you may have a good chance of finding her and bringing her back."

Currently, inside the throne room at Canterlot

Luna spends a few more minutes patrolling the Dream Realm when she checks on another dreaming pony, seeing that Scootaloo is dreaming about an elderly mare searching for her rusty horseshoe when Rainbow Dash appears and gives it to her. She giggles with delight as Scootaloo overcame her fear and then retreats from the dream to finish up her patrol.

Celestia wakes up well rested and rises from the bed to get ready to begin the new day as she searches for a suitable dress to wear today for court saying, "I wonder what Tyrande will say about the possibility of me training to become a paladin..."

As she watches her sister make her way to the balcony, she smiles and says, "Good morning, sister. Did you sleep well?"

The older princess smiles and looks at her sister affectionately saying, "I slept very well sister, thank you for asking. I must insist that you get some rest before going back to continue your training. You have bags under your eyes that ruin your youthful appearance."

Luna smiles back and heads over to the balcony while saying, "I must endure and press on because the lives of every being on Equis depend on us defeating our father. With what strength we have now, we would just be throwing rocks at an ursa major."

Celestia sighs and nods, saying, "I understand that sister, which is why I am eagerly waiting for the guards I sent out to find the Druid and the Mage that are still in our world. Once they arrive, we can figure out where to send them for training to prepare them for our inevitable battle against The Lich King."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Everfree Forest...

Kalysse and Kaylara wander through the forest on the coast together, making a map and gathering further information on the creatures that live here when they hear a flapping sound in the air around them.

The druid shifts to her bear form in preparation to be attacked when a pegasus in gold armor lands before them panting slightly and straightening his posture saying, "Princess Celestia is looking for you two, please make your way to Canterlot with haste."

Kaylara looks at him with concern asking, "Is the Lich King attacking?"

He shakes his head saying, "No, unfortunately, that is all I know." and then takes to the air to go find and tell the others they have been found and can return to Canterlot.

The mage watches him leave and then looks at her friend saying, "Well, shall we be on our way then Kalysse?"

Kalysse turns to her friend and says, "We don't have much of a choice if it sounds important, can you open a portal anywhere near Canterlot?"

Kaylara shakes her head saying, "Unfortunately, not yet because I haven't been there or to any town the ponies have."

The druid nods her head in understanding and says, "This forest reminds me of Ashenvale, being so wild. Though it is rather dangerous and dark here."

The mage smiles and says, "Yeah this place would suit our people well if the need ever arises and the Princesses allow it." and then calls for her saber so they can ride to Canterlot.